I had been adding to and asking questions on Shelbies baby chick thread. It was getting a little long, old and a bit boring to go that far back to come this far forward. I am going to move my last couple of posts over here and continue on.. I find it a little disrepectful of me to move your comments without asking so if you would like to bring them over or post a link feel free..
I start back up on the thread October 2nd at Post #5624895
The next 2 posts are the ones I moved over. There are answers to them over at:
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/837187/#new
This message was edited Oct 8, 2008 8:57 AM
The Broody Adventures of Shelby the SIlkie
I HAVE to bring the thread back up... black silkie #3 is Shelby.. she is our little bitty sweetheart.. well yesterday she decided she is in her nest and is not coming out until she has something to show for it...
Do I feed her, or let her come out when she wants? Can I add Advils (other blk silkie) eggs under her? I have to lift the lid to check on her, will this upset her? It is so cold.. what a terrible time of the year to go broody.. will she continue to lay fertile eggs for a few days? I have a few of her eggs in the fridge, can I bring them out warm them up and add them? Yes she lives with Simon.. her roo friend. If it continues to get too cold, should I take the entire contents of her nest and move her and it to a cage in the warmer garage?.. oh I feel like a mother hen!
Shelby & Simon
I am back with an update. This silkie run family consists of Shelby, Advil and thier roo Simon. Shelby has been sitting since Oct 1st. I have not benn able to find Advils eggs, I thought maybe she stopped laying because Shelby would not get out of the egg box. It is not a large tractor and I searched every square inch other than the nest. On the 3rd Shelby came down to eat & drink, nest is on 3rd story. I noticed then 3 eggs. On the 6th she came down again.. and sure enough now there are 5 eggs. And on the afternoon of the 6th Advil was up there sitting and cooing with Shelby.
Is Advil adding to the eggs? Is Advil helping her sit? No they are not fighting. If Advil goes broody also, is it okay as long as they get along to leave them together.. and if that does happen, I am assuming I will need to get Simon out of dodge!
And the bottom line question.. in the beginning, I was only asking, now I guess I am serious, I am ending up with staggered eggs aren't I?
Nice thing about her going upstairs and hiding on the first, we are looking at a date of the 21st-ish.. right?
Dear Fran,
First, Shelby is a GOOD BOY, and does not need to be removed, let him be part of the process. Now, yes you have two hens bringing you CF eggs, good girls they are, VERY good.
Second, the eggs are not staggered yet. But please leave one, mark it, CF said MARK IT, and take the rest out. Someone will instruct you how to store them.
Keep saving eggs until CF says to put them back. Actually CF just looked at calendar and says THIS WEEKEND would be a good time to start incubating those eggs. IF my good girls are not setting on them 24/7 yet, do you need CF to bring you an incubator?
Sincerely,
************
CF
oops..
Yesterday I looked and their are now 8 eggs, and yes she (Shelby) has been sitting for a solid week, only coming down once for food and water.. so I took action..
She is on the 3rd floor in the laying room, in the other room (where everyone sleeps) is the stairs to the second floor. I blocked the stairs off so Simon & Advil cannot go to the third floor. I put in food & water for Shelby. On the second floor I added straw for bedding, and on the bottom floor I will add a "laying box for Advil so she can continue to lay her eggs.
And yes chicken fairy.. I am in desperate need of an incubator.. my friend told me to go to the extention as the schools will not be using them this time of the year.
If I do that.. I may NEED a Serama egg or 2 or 5 real soon.. LOL
SO hope I did it all right!
Fran,
I'm kind of concerned about this situation. I don't think you should be trying to store those eggs because as I understand the situation, the hen was already setting on them. That means they are are started. If you move them out, they will die.
I believe you said Shelby had been setting since Oct 1st and Advil had been adding to the nest which means today is the eleventh so the first eggs have developed 11 days if she was setting that whole time. There should be chicks developing in those eggs and any that have been sat on for more than a day.
The CF advised you to remove all the eggs but one and mark it and store the others to set a date with later. I'm confused because that would kill any embryos in those eggs to remove them and try to store them unless you put them straight into an incubator. I am hoping (sorry CF) that you did not do that....
Give us the update!
yes.. you are hearing me right claire.. I believe CF may have other things flittering about... lol
I did not remove them because Shelby has been sitting on them the entire time.. and I do not know which is which. I did not realize the gravity of the situation until the other day when it occured to me there was 7 days difference in egg 1 and 8.. thats when I put in the divider and no more visitors are allowed up there.
I am hoping I can get an incubator and have it stoked and ready when when her chicks hatch and then I will remove who is left.. and hopefully this will all have a happy ending.
See, while I do listen to CF.. I also have to figure she is dealing with a million other chicken people she is bound to misread a thing or two.
Whew!!! Glad to hear that's what you decided!
yea, except did you notice the dates... eggs due to hatch the 21st... YES THE 21ST!!!
good luck with them
Update:
Well today is now the 15th day she has been sitting. I relly must look at the how to candle thread and retry my candling. Poor Shelby is still up on the 3rd floor sitting away on 8 eggs. She is tolorant of visitors, but I keep it short and just coo at her for a minute checking her food and water next door, a quick pet to assure her, I am still in charge and all will be a
ok. BUT.. she sure looks like heck.. that girl could really use a shower and a comb.
Also once the free drop off babies here closed down, Advil has decided she just might as well sit on her own eggs, so she is on the second floor sitting on 2 of her eggs.
AND: I did find an incubator to borrow from the farm bureau.
glad to here things are going well
Glad to hear things are going so well fran.
That's great Fran - how funny that Advil decided that if she can't dump her eggs off on Shelby, she might as well sit on them herself!
I just love watching animal behavior.. amazing how closely it parallels human behaviors..LOL
Oh how true that is Frans. When I am upset or just feeling down, I go out and sit with the birds, they always have a way to lift up my spirits.
DAY 21
might be trouble in paradise..
I notice Shelby stinks and there is a broken egg under her.
7 eggs left.
Should I wait a day or two.. should I just leave her be?
Should I clean her bed?
Her chest is entirely raw.. no feathers, no down.. is that normal? how will she survive over the winter with NO feather protection?
She is eating and pooping every couple of days..
I think the bare chest is normal--a lot of birds do that when they are brooding.
If you can replace her bed by all means do it you don't want your chicks hatching in rotten egg stuff.
her bare chest is normal it's how she transfers moist heat to her eggs it will grow back in so don't worry.
but werent there going to be all different hatching times when is the second closest one to hatching due if (in theory) the egg that was rotten was the one that was ment to hatch today
I may as well tell my little story.
Yesterday I went to put my silkie hens in their new chicken tractor. I had to pick each one up and put them in, and noticed one was missing. I have not been counting them at night, I've just been assuming they are all in. So last night I began to look and look and LOOK, and finally found her. She was sitting .. or is the word setting? on SEVENTEEN eggs, very well hidden I might add. None of them fertile of course, because the roosters have been moved. Unless another one begins to crow, I have 13 hens and 9 roosters.
It's kind of sad not letting them have babies. They seem so determined, and know just what to do.
One of these days, I'll give in and let them hatch something, but not soon. I hope not soon.
Now that I have these chickens, I can't imagine life without them, but I don't want more than I can handle either.
Those Maran eggs look so tempting. I'll try to control myself. At least I should make a deal with myself: no more until I make the coops or tractors for them first.
Keep us updated Frans, congrats.
I was going to start a new thread..but nope.. those that have stuck with me have a right to know first!!!
This morning I was going to clean out as well as I could because.. no I don't want anything to be born into rotten egg bacteria...
THREE BABIES were chirping away...
looks like 2 are partridge and a black.. thats just a glancing guess.. with 5 eggs to go.. every egg is a day apart.. two eggs have pips going (thats what to say when there is little chips out right?
this pic is blurry but you can see the color patter on the ?? partridges ??
congrats there, they are darlin.
Oh Fran! They are so sweet! And looks like you have your Atlas gardening gloves on!! Keep us updated on the hatch. Congrats to Shelby!
congrats
yes I do.. that reminds me.. I have to get them ordered! they keep me warm.. but I do need the thermal ones.
fran, so happy for you. the chicks are just darling!
woo-hoo...keyyuuute babies. I love them!!!
yay for you and the birdies :)
~music
Congratulations Fran! I love the partridge color and had been thinking of ordering some cochins this spring.
Good luck with the rest.
Wow Frans, isn't that awesome?
I went back and looked at my baby's pictures. When mine came, there were two different colors of partridges, both have stripes on the back. One was a light color and one was a dark .. I called it chipmunk color.
Here's a picture of them. The other chicks in the picture, as you can see are solid colors, of white, red, blue and black. It's easy to see the partridges, even though my picture isn't that great.
Does that look like your babies?
I have been wondering about breeding these silkies. How pure the colors are in these lines.
Those babies are awesome, congratulations. You are brave. Looking forward to more of their pictures.
I love the little grey ones to the centre right of your picture. I'm a sucker for grey chicks.
Hi Cmoxon,
Those are blue silkies, and grown, they are very dark, almost black. From the back you can tell they are blue, but when I try to count now, I just count blue and black together.
I ended up with 1 blue rooster, 2 blue hens.
2 black roosters and 1 black hen
1 white rooster, 3 white hens
4 partridge hens .. NO rooster, :(
Now, the buff and reds get complicated here. I was supposed to get 4 buffs and 4 reds. As it turned out, seems I have 5 red roosters, 1 red hen, and possibly 2 buff hens. Only one of my chickens can I tell is really a buff. So I think they just kind of threw in extra reds on me.
The red roosters are very pretty though, their tails have these dark green feathers that shine in the sun.
Ideal has gray silkies, I wish had bought those too.
They are all my babies. :D
Oh dear me, you are turning into an enabler! Telling me where I can get grey silkies!!! Dangerous!!! They are all very sweet - how old are they now? I have a silkie about 4-5 weeks old and she is in the awkward sort of scraggly looking stage still.
we have a 4th baby.. black with a white chest, new meaning to who's your daddy? LOL
there is 2 black pullets and 1 white roo, it has been months since Nemo was in there.. but "just in case" he is the plymouth barred rock bantum.
So, other than nemo, how would I get the colors I have???
i dont knoow but congrats on the chicks
Check this out
http://www.ringneckdove.com/Wilmer's%20WebPage/SILKYCHI.htm
Great link! That should go into the bird link thread....
WOW on that link.. I will be there for days understanding it.. but still what a great site.. and YES it needs to go in the bird link page!
fran, my black roo and black hen have black babies with white chests.
claire i have 2 grey silkie chicks, maybe they are blue?